ay, who, dropping the
Mac, became the well-known Tory publisher. Murray tried in vain to
induce Falconer, the author of "The Shipwreck," to join him as a
partner. The first Murray died in 1793. In 1812 John Murray, the son of
the founder, removed to 50, Albemarle Street. In the _Athenaeum_ of 1843
a writer describes how Byron used to stroll in here fresh from his
fencing-lessons at Angelo's or his sparring-bouts with Jackson. He was
wont to make cruel lunges with his stick at what he called "the spruce
books" on Murray's shelves, generally striking the doomed volume, and by
no means improving the bindings. "I was sometimes, as you will guess,"
Murray used to say with a laugh, "glad to get rid of him." Here, in
1807, was published "Mrs. Rundell's Domestic Cookery;" in 1809, the
_Quarterly Review_; and, in 1811, Byron's "Childe Harold."

The original Columbarian Society, long since extinct, was born at
offices in Fleet Street, near St. Dunstan's. This society was replaced
by the Pholoperisteron, dear to all pigeon-fanciers, which held its
meetings at "Freemasons' Tavern," and eventually amalgamated with its
rival, the National Columbarian, the fruitful union producing the
National Peristeronic Society, now a flourishing institution, meeting
periodically at "Evans's," and holding a great fluttering and most
pleasant annual show at the Crystal Palace. It is on these occasions
that clouds of carrier-pigeons are let off, to decide the speed with
which the swiftest and best-trained bird can reach a certain spot (a
flight, of course, previously known to the bird), generally in Belgium.

The first St. Dunstan's Church--"in the West," as it is now called, to
distinguish it from one near Tower Street--was built prior to 1237. The
present building was erected in 1831. The older church stood thirty feet
forward, blocking the carriage-way, and shops with projecting signs were
built against the east and west walls. The churchyard was a favourite
locality for booksellers. One of the most interesting stories connected
with the old building relates to Felton, the fanatical assassin of the
Duke of Buckingham, the favourite of Charles I. The murderer's mother
and sisters lodged at a haberdasher's in Fleet Street, and were
attending service in St. Dunstan's Church when the news arrived from
Portsmouth; they swooned away when they heard the name of the assassin.
Many of the clergy of St. Dunstan's have been eminent men. Tyndale, the
transla